Cinnamon Roll Cake

I realized only after I started to type this blog post that Pat managed to make me bake him two different things for his birthday :)  He's lucky I like him.  But anyway, the day before his birthday, he requested pretzels and I baked the 30-minute soft pretzels.  Then I had a really bad cold for a couple weeks, and when I was back up and alive, I offered to make him a belated birthday cake.  Smartly he chose not to remind me that I had already baked him his birthday treat, and after a list of the items in my Pinterest dessert board, he settled on the cinnamon roll cake.

This is a cake I was happy to make, not just because Pat is an awesome cousin, but because I really like cinnamon rolls.  I've made 45-minute cinnamon rolls, regular cinnamon rolls (I even baked a batch last summer while I waited for our photographer to come do our engagement photos), and even cinnamon buns with chocolate.  But let's be honest: even the 45-minute ones are pretty time-consuming.  Cinnamon rolls are not the quickest recipe in the world, especially if you want to do them right.  So I was very intrigued by the idea of a cinnamon roll cake.  It has all the flavors of a roll, minus the lengthy process.  In fact, this is a super fast and easy cake, even considering that it has three "components."

The cake is basically just a regular vanilla cake, but then you mix up butter (okay, a lot of butter), brown sugar, flour and cinnamon and pour it on top, and swiiiiiirl it into the cake batter.  After it bakes, you pour on a glaze while it's still warm.  Doesn't that sound crazy good?  Well I think it is.  It was very rich and sweet with lots of cinnamon flavor.  I will say that it's not half as good the second day, so it's definitely something you want to make for a hungry crowd that will devour it all immediately :)  Mom of course said it was too sweet, but the birthday boy was more than happy!

Recipe:

cinnamon roll cake
from Rumbly in my Tumbly

Ingredients:
for cake:
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

for topping:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon

for glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all cake ingredients together except for the butter.  Slowly stir in melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

2) For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined.  Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife.  Bake for 28 - 32 minutes.

3) Mix together all glaze ingredients.  While cake is still warm, drizzle glaze on top.